The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No.2001-210525, filed Jul. 11, 2001. The contents of that application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a production method useful in producing, on an industrial scale, Chinese fried meat dumplings.
2. Discussion of the Background
The Chinese meat dumpling is a popular Chinese food among Japanese, and is marketed as frozen food in large numbers. The Chinese meat dumpling is originated in China, and in China, it is usually steamed or served in soup. In Japan, on the other hand, what is generally called xe2x80x9cChinese fried meat dumplingxe2x80x9d is preferred. The manual cooking of Chinese fried meat dumplings in top Chinese restaurants is characterized by the following two points. First, wrappings of 1 mm or more in thickness are formed manually from dough having a large water content (45% or more). Second, meat dumplings formed by using such wrappings are fried in the following manner. After meat dumplings have been arranged on a heated pan, a sufficient amount of boiling water is added to the pan and the meat dumplings are boiled. Then, remaining hot water is removed from the pan and the meat dumplings are fried from their bottom surfaces sticking to the pan. Each Chinese meat dumpling that has been cooked by the above method has features that the side portion and the xe2x80x9cearxe2x80x9d portion, i.e., the folded portion, have absorbed a sufficient amount of water and thereby gelatinized sufficiently to provide a soft-rice-cake-like texture, and that the bottom surface portion has been fried after being gelatinized sufficiently to have a clear fried surface and a dark brown color for a crunchy texture when eaten.
On the other hand, to produce a large number of Chinese meat dumplings industrially, a method in which meat dumplings are made by a shaping machine, using circular pieces of dough obtained by punching a rolled noodle band is generally employed. In this method, where an automatic dumpling shaping machine is used, it is difficult to use dough containing much water as used in the manual cooking. Therefore, in general, wrappings as thin as about 0.7 mm are produced from dough having a small water content (about 35%). To produce Chinese fried meat dumplings industrially, it is difficult to boil as performed in kitchens. Therefore, an ordinary procedure is to steam and fry meat dumpling. However, the wrappings of the meat dumplings produced by using dough having a small water content cannot absorb a sufficient amount of water when they are merely steamed. Since sufficient gelatinization cannot be attained, the bottom portion of each fried meat dumpling is not given a clear fried surface. In particular, the ear portion does not have a soft-rice-cake-like texture.
Conventionally, various measures have been taken to solve the above problems. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 245740/1994, a method in which meat dumplings are fried after emulsion consisting of water, fat, an emulsifier, grain powder, protein, seasonings, etc., has been applied to the bottom surfaces of the meat dumplings is employed to provide a texture, a color and a flavor that are close to the ones obtained immediately after frying in accordance with the manual cooking. However, lack of the sufficient gelatinization which can be obtained by in boiling water, this method is an insufficient measure for solving the above problems.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 23868/1995 discloses a method in which meat dumplings are steamed and then baked in a covered pan. However, this method cannot sufficiently soften the wrappings of the meat dumplings.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 277013/1994 discloses a method for making the folded portion of the wrapping of each steamed meat dumpling as soft as the portion in contact with its filling. The inside of a steaming room is heated while being supplied with steam. Showers are provided in the top portion of the steaming room and water is supplied to the top surfaces of meat dumplings with a certain timing. In this manner, the folded portion of each meat dumpling is made as soft as the portion in contact with its filling. However, in this method, the wrappings of the meat dumplings do not receive a sufficient amount water and hence cannot obtain sufficient gelatinization obtained by boiling in water.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 38367/1996 discloses a method in which, to prevent the top surfaces of foods from being heated excessively, a frying machine for Chinese meat dumplings and fried udon noodles (thick Japanese white noodles) is equipped with a cooling water tank on its top surface. Although this method is effective in preventing the top surfaces of meat dumplings from being fried, it cannot boil and gelatinize the wrappings sufficiently in their entireties before frying.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 182623/1996 discloses a method that is directed to relatively small, batch-type kitchen apparatuses and in which the frying time and temperature of a meat dumpling frying pan are controlled by a microcomputer to obtain a constant fried surface color. However, this method cannot be applied to a continuous, industrial-scale boiling and frying operation.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 248717/1998 discloses a method that is directed to home cooking apparatuses for properly defrosting and frying frozen meat dumplings and in which frozen meat dumplings and water are put in an apparatus and heated together, whereby boiling and frying are performed. Although this method is suitable for boiling and frying frozen meat dumplings at home, it cannot be used on an industrial scale.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56313/1999 discloses a method in which a thickening liquid accommodated in a thickening liquid accommodating section of a tray for meat dumplings and meat dumplings accommodated in a pieces accommodating section are frozen together and, at the time of frying, they are placed on a heated iron plate with the thickening liquid down. This method makes it possible to cook meat dumplings sticking to a pan with a flat fried surface and cause a superior texture when eaten. Although this method is suitable for frying in restaurants or take-out meat dumplings at home, it cannot be used on an industrial scale.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 271978/1998 discloses a method for providing a good texture of typical Chinese fried meat dumplings by heating meat dumplings again immediately before eating. In this method, cooking oil is applied to the surfaces of respective fried meat dumplings. However, this method cannot reproduce, on an industrial scale, the meat dumpling cooking method of Chinese chefs.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 309071/1999 discloses a method for obtaining uniform frying results and uniform scorched parts in an electric heater type frying machine for meat dumpling. In this method, electric heaters, i.e., pipe heaters, are disposed in grooves of an iron plate provided in a main body case so as to arrange the heaters in parallel at a regular interval in approximately the same number as the number of columns the meat dumplings are arranged. Cooking is finished when the temperature of the iron plate has reached a preset value. However, this method is directed to small-scale cooking apparatuses and cannot be applied to industrial-scale, continuous cooking facilities.
In the above methods, it is still difficult to reproduce the Chinese meat dumplings prepared by chefs on an industrial scale.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a production method of Chinese fried meat dumplings includes loading meat dumplings on a conveyer, steaming the meat dumplings on the conveyer, and frying the meat dumplings by increasing a temperature of the conveyer from 50xc2x0 C. to 200-280xc2x0 C. in 1-8 minutes as the conveyer moves the meat dumplings toward downstream.